The difference between people who are successful and those who are not is that the truly successful are willing to do things that others don’t, according to Rory Vaden’s book, “Take the Stairs: 7 Steps to Achieving Success.”

I encourage you to take a close look at what others are not doing and work toward excelling in those areas. The most obvious area to examine, of course, is sales.

Selling Versus Marketing

We have become an industry of marketers but are not really selling much compared to the costs incurred. I challenge you to run the numbers. You will probably find your average cost per lead and cost per sale is much higher than you think.

As Vaden wrote in his book, elevators and escalators are the easy way up and everyone takes them, but taking the stairs requires a commitment. Many of you will commit to taking the stairs on cruise ships. While your intentions are good, you tend to take the elevator after a few days. Why? Because it’s easier.

‘Get Rich Quick’

We have become a “Get Rich Quick” society, which is conditioned to find the easy way out, and marketing is no exception. Just look at all the late-night infomercials touting the riches of flipping houses and buying foreclosed properties for pennies on the dollar. Most individuals who buy into these schemes end up losing money because they didn’t really know what they were—but bought in because someone on television made it look easy.

The difference between a successful advisor and one who is not boils down to one word. Control. Those who have taken charge of their own destiny, proactively prospecting and controlling the sales process, are the successful ones.

Mastering Sales

We are in retail sales, not the marketing business. As I have stated time and time again, your marketing must always be in support of your sales efforts. Yet for some reason, as an industry we spend a disproportionate amount of time creating advertising and very little time mastering the whole sales process.

Prospecting can be hard and full of rejection, but it’s a numbers game and you are in control. Do the things others are unwilling to do. That, my friends, is how you get your name in lights!